Former BJP state president Suresh Pujari has opposed the arrest of a NREGA whistleblower in Jharsuguda district. Pujari said Gunanidhi Barik, former sarpanch of Lakhanpur block, has been falsely implicated by police and demanded a probe into it. Barik had tried to stop the block supervisor from taking signature of the NREGA beneficiaries without releasing the money and warned him of dire consequences if the rest amount is not paid. The...

Two policemen were among three persons killed and District Magistrate Deepak Agarwal got a bullet injury in fierce clashes that broke out in Greater Noida on Saturday between security personnel and agitating farmers holding three roadways employees hostage. Scores of people including an SSP were also injured when the agitation by the farmers demanding better compensation for their acquired land turned violent in Bhatta Parsaul village in Gautam Buddha Nagar district,...

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is yet to take a decision on the contentious report of the Public Accounts Committee on the 2G spectrum allocation scandal presented to her by PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi on April 30. In a press release on Wednesday, the Speaker said she had reconstituted the PAC on May 1. Mr. Joshi is to continue as Chairman for the year starting May 1, 2011 as it...

Chaotic scenes; coalition MPs say the draft was “outsourced” After accusations and counter-accusations through unprecedented chaotic scenes at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) here on Thursday, 11 of its 21 members recorded their “vote” to “reject” the draft report on 2G scam circulated to the members by the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Wednesday. The majority that voted to reject the report said they intended to send recorded rejection...

The activism of civil society against corruption has caught the imagination of many Indians. Arguments put forward by representatives of the civil society organisations (CSOs) can be summarised as follows: 'All - at least most - politicians, ministers, bureaucrats are corrupt. Voters are incapable of deciding what is good for them. The police, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, and all other agencies of the State...